Not sure what you consider a drubbing, but the exchange rate between the Euro and the US dollar is now virtually the same as it was two years ago. In fact, it is also about the same as when it was first issued:
Jan 1993 1.21 Jan 1994 1.11 Jan 1995 1.24 Jan 1996 1.26 Jan 1997 1.21 Jan 1998 1.09 Jan 1999 1.16 Jan 2000 1.01 Jan 2001 0.94 Jan 2002 0.88 Jan 2003 1.06 Jan 2004 1.26 Jan 2005 1.31 Oct 2005 1.20
It has had its ups and downs in the interim. It hit the low point against the US dollar about 5 years ago, when its monthly rate was about 30 percent below today, but it steadily climbed for the next four years, until it was about 10 percent above today's rate. It has slipped back in the last year.
The same sort of pride resulted in a major civil war in the US, but the union has managed to continue. The Europeans may have more to work through with language and religious differences added to the mix, but they seem to be making progress in economic union. They have more free trade within the economic union than the US has with its partners under the "Free Trade Agreement".
